Languedoc "Everyday drinking wines?"

Valerie has kindly agreed to host March's meeting and has chosen
reds from "Languedoc" including Costieres de Nimes as the theme. She
indicated that they have nice AOC (blends) and Vins de Pays d'Oc
(varietals, in general, Syrah and Cab) and stated that the price point
is more in the lower side of our regular window. She also correctly
pointed out that the food from the South of France is fantastic (and
not complicated)!

Army Wines?

I've done a bit of research on the area and was intrigued to find out that Languedoc is the largest vine growing area in the world!
Stretching from the Rhône to the Pyrenees, the wine region is several
times bigger than, for example, Bordeaux or the wine growing region of
Australia. Approximately 400,000 acres are planted with vines, which
produce one-third of France's grapes and over 2 billion bottles each year.

It's believed that the Greeks established colonies here over 2000
years ago for producing wine and oil, and planted the first French vine
here in 500 BC. In later times the area produced high volumes of poor
quality wine to blend with the strong wine imported from the North
African colonies. During the 1960's the vines were replanted with the
high volume, stronger, but still undistinguished Carignan grapes.
Unfortunately, the result was the wines of Languedoc were often
referred to as "Army Wines" - large quantity, low quality.

With the worldwide excess production of wine, vignerons in Languedoc
have been replanting with varieties intended to produce better quality
wines. They replaced low quality varieties with better ones like
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Viognier. Approximately
120,000 hectares were replanted under a rejuvenation programme.
Increasingly, Grenache, Syrah, Cinsaut, and Mourvedre are found in the
region.

The improvement efforts are paying off, with the Languedoc becoming
a respected producer of quality wines. However in my research, many
websites are still labeling the wines as "Vin de Table" and "Vin de
Pays" that are ideal for "everyday drinking", which though appealing in
concept -- who wouldn't want to drink French wine everyday -- seems a
bit derogatory. I'm personally very much looking forward to the
tasting and believe that our club will judge for ourselves...

Cuisine

Cooking traditions in Languedoc have roots in the same primary
products as those in Provence. The primary ingredients are olive oil
and tomatoes, garlic, onions and aromatic herbs. Seafood is an
essential part of the cuisine. The specialties are: Oysters, Gardiane
(bull stew with rice), Bourride (fish with aïoli), Morue Catalane (cod
with tomatoes and pepper), Anchoïade (anchovies with garlic and olive
oil), Crème Catalane (creme brulee with lemon, vanilla and fennel
seed), The following cheeses are made in Languedoc-Roussillon:
Pélardon, Bleu des Causses, Thomme (goat's cheese), and Roquefort,
which comes from Larzac in the south-west of Languedoc.

More resources:

An in-depth overview of the wine region can be found on the official Languedoc AOC website.

Château de Nages Cuvée Joseph Torres Rouge (Syrah) 2000/01, 14.5%
alcohol $28.95 - good value, very hard to find. Unfortunately I
couldn't find anyone's notes on this, other than we gave it a fairly
high ranking.

Chateau Mas Neuf Costiered de Nimes 2003 14% alcohol - not a
distinctive wine, but very much a classic of the region. Has a manure,
earthy aroma. Comment from the member that brought the wine, "it was
red and from France".

Gres Saint Paul Syrhus 2002 $45 - huge nose! Smooth and silky with
notes of gooseberry on the palatte. Appears to be trying to balance old
and new world tastes. This received mixed reviews from the members -
some loved it and some thought it was one dimensional. A sampling of
the descriptions "would have it with steak", "I would drink 6 of these
with 6 buddies in an all male dinner blow out". Oh la la, sounds fun ;)